Palffy Is Lost for the Season

The yellow note attached to the grease board in the Kings’ locker room was succinct, if not sobering: “How are you going to help our team get into the playoffs?”

The question was necessary in the wake of Friday’s worst-case confirmation that King right wing Ziggy Palffy will miss the rest of the season because of a dislocated right shoulder.

Palffy, a virtual lock for All-Star status until he was pulled back awkwardly Wednesday by Mighty Duck defenseman Todd Simpson, will undergo season-ending surgery Monday.

“He’s not going to be back,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “That’s reality.”

One of many the Kings are facing without their leading scorer.

Mired in a 10-game winless streak, the Kings, who face Columbus tonight, are one more poor showing from their longest winless streak since 1981-82. The defense has struggled, the goaltending has been inconsistent and the offense has been dwindling, even with a healthy Palffy.

Without him, the Kings lack consistent scoring: He had a team-high 16 goals and 25 assists, and had again strapped the team on his shoulder pads after leading the Kings with 37 goals last season in the absence of injured Adam Deadmarsh and Jason Allison, who have not played this season.

Palffy’s production will be missed, but the Kings say they will move forward. They have no choice as they sit tied for ninth in the Western Conference.

“We’re in a pretty familiar situation with all these injured players,” captain Mattias Norstrom said. “If anyone’s looking for excuses in this room or looking to throw in the towel, they’re not going to find it here.”

Palffy, 31, was injured about 1:30 into overtime Wednesday when Simpson pulled on his stick as he headed up ice for a potential breakaway. Palffy jerked back awkwardly, fell to the ice and left the game in a doubled-over position.

“I was in a little bit of shock,” said Palffy, who expects to recover within four to five months. “I felt [the shoulder] come out and it went back in. I didn’t know what to do. I went to the bench and the locker room and tried to show the doctor what happened and it went out again. I realized I had a little problem. This had never happened before.”

Team surgeon Ronald Kvitne will perform the operation Monday at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Surgery Center in Los Angeles.

On a day when the Kings talked about the importance of team unity, left wing Luc Robitaille invoked the name of the Great One when asked if the Kings have enough firepower without Palffy.

“It’s kind of like a few years ago when we lost [Wayne] Gretzky and regrouped and almost won the Cup when we got him back,” Robitaille said, referring to the Kings’ run to the 1993 Stanley Cup finals despite losing Gretzky for the first 39 games because of a back injury.

“We started playing real good as a team and everybody contributed. We’ve got some guys [now] who can still put the puck in the net.”

The Kings addressed the continued absence of Allison (whiplash) and Deadmarsh (post-concussion syndrome) in late November, acquiring forward Martin Straka from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a deal that will cost them only about $3.2 million this season.

A wait-and-see approach on another trade is probably in the cards.

The Kings have recouped about $3.2 million of Allison’s $8 million salary through disability insurance and could receive as much as $6.4 million if Allison does not play this season.

“I think Andy and [General Manager] Dave [Taylor] have done a good job of telling the team we’ve got to look from within,” King President Tim Leiweke said. “We’re in the [playoff] hunt here and we have the ability of staying in the hunt with our roster.

“That said, if Dave sees something he believes he can do and it doesn’t sell out our soul, our future, he has our unequivocal support.”

In the immediate future, the Kings could catch a break with their schedule. Only one of their next five games is against a team with a winning record.